Action figures have been a staple toy for young children, typically young boys, for many years. A market arose for action figures that resembled popular icons of the time period. Some examples of popular action figures over the past have been G.I. Joe, Batman, Superman, He-Man and Skeletor, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and many more.
Design and manufacturing processes for action figures have been generally similar and well known. For the most part, action figures are made from plastic pieces that are sculpted and molded from clay. The plastic pieces may be joined together in different ways depending on the desired effect, such as fixed, rotatable, pivotable, etc. The outcome is an action figure that has human-like movements and would be intuitive to a young child playing with the toy.
Over time, action figures have become more sophisticated having moving interconnected parts, lights and sound effects. These aspects provide additional benefits that make the action figure more realistic, diverse in function, and aesthetically pleasing.
Examples of such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,537,506; 7,182,340; 6,579,143; 6,296,543; 6,022,263; 4,723,932; 4,623,318; 4,601,672; 4,536,166; and 4,003,158; and Patent Application Nos. US20110086571 and US20060292965. The disclosures of these and all other publications referenced herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.